Oprah Winfrey was born January 29,1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her parents Vernon and Vernita Winfrey separated. When she was just a little girl, Oprah went to live with her grandmother. While living with her grandmother, she learned to read and write at the age of three. When Oprah was ten her grandmother died causing her to move back with her mother who at the time was staying at a friends house. Oprah's move with her mother came at a very rough time. Oprah said that her stay with her mother's friend was very unpleasant. She experience discrimination and neglect. She force to sleep on the pouch and was told she was ugly because her skin was darker than her sisters. To get the attention she so desired from her mother, Oprah began to steal money out of her mother's purse, and ran away from home several times. Vernita had enough and wanted Vernon to come get his daughter. So Oprah move to Nashville with her father and stepmother. The move could not have come at a better time. Oprah's behavior improved and so did her grades. Oprah did so well in school that she won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. While in college, Oprah became the first black woman to anchor the news in Nashville. This would prove to be the start of a star. After college, Oprah moved to Baltimore to host the T.V. show People Are Talking. The show became a hit and Oprah stayed with it for eight years. After doing the talk show, Oprah was offered a job in Chicago to host her own morning show, A.M. Chicago. Oprah took the job. In 1986 the producers of the A. M, Chicago decided to change the name to the Oprah Winfrey Show. Ever since 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show has been at the top of the ratings ever since the first show aired. After her show aired Oprah decided to open her own production company. Located in Chicago, she named it Harpo using the spelling of her first name backwards. Oprah would use her television show as a medium to reach out to her viewers with segments like "Oprah's Book Club, The Angle Network , and a new televison channel Oxygen.
